Genre

Producer

Distributor

Release Date

Release Notes

Official Website

Review

It is entirely possible that I was expecting too much from Playing for Keeps,
and it is also entirely possible that I’m the only one who was. Yes,
the film stars several big-name actors who’ve turned appearing in
terrible films into a virtual art form, and yes, the film was directed
by Gabriele Muccino, last seen on U.S. shores suicide-bombing Will
Smith’s career with the hilariously loathsome Seven Pounds. But once upon a time, Muccino was an elegant cinematic poet of Italian middle-class angst, in films like The Last Kiss
(the Italian original, not the Zach Braff remake). He even managed to
carry over his stylistic sensibilities into the touching modern American
poverty drama The Pursuit of Happyness (also starring Smith).

And Gerard Butler, Jessica Biel, and Catherine Zeta-Jones are all
actors who remain essentially likable; you keep waiting for them to
appear in something decent and show what they’re made of. (To be fair,
Butler did have Coriolanus last year, and Biel appeared in this year’s way-underrated horror-twist-fest The Tall Man.)
Basically, these are actors due a break. Unfortunately, this
comedy-drama about a kids’ soccer coach boinking a bunch of desperate
housewives doesn’t appear to be it.

It starts out promisingly, though. George (Butler) is a former
international soccer star, now broke and trying desperately to patch
together a sportscasting career. (He makes little demo videos in his
living room, with the hopes of eventually getting the right person to
see them). Despite his lack of means, he’s trying to live in a chichi
Virginia suburb in order to remain close to his son (Noah Lomax) and
ex-wife (Biel). One day, after witnessing the tubby, useless coach of
his son’s soccer team teaching the kids to kick with their toes (a major
no-no, in case you didn’t know), our fallen soccer god steps in and
shows the young ‘uns how to really do it. Soon enough, he’s been hired
as the new coach, and almost immediately, the neighborhood’s well-heeled
mothers are throwing themselves at him — winking from the driver’s-side
windows of their colossal SUVs and then showing up in his bed. Among
them is Denise (Zeta-Jones), who just happens to have once been a
sportscaster herself, and offers George a chance to get his demo to the
bigwigs at ESPN. Of course, Denise always seems to shows up when George
is with his son, and thus does the film present us with the typical
bullshit movie conflict of Evil Career Demands (and Occasional Hot Sex)
versus Noble Parenting Duties. Compounded, of course, by the fact that
George is still in love with his ex.

The problem with Playing for Keeps is that it’s
essentially three movies battling for supremacy: Is it an inspirational
tale of a former soccer star who finds his redemption by coaching a
kids’ soccer team? Or is it a Blake Edwards–style farce about a man who
can’t stop diddling lots of different women? (Hey, the Italians used to
be good at this sort of movie!) Or is it the aforementioned melodrama of
career versus a return to family life? It’s probably possible to juggle
all three strands, but Muccino and screenwriter Robbie Fox don’t even
bother to juggle them. Instead, they opt to just tune different strands
in and out, which creates a kind of tonal whiplash. You settle in for a
soccer flick, and suddenly you’re dealing with awkward sex-romp
slapstick. And just as suddenly, you’re whisked into an emotional,
teary-eyed scene between George and his ex. And then the virtually
abandoned soccer plot comes back (complete with an extended, climactic
final game for a championship season that we didn’t even know about).
And then more rich ladies looking for a Butlering. And then the
teary-eyed emotional romance. And so on.

Only one of these strands is any good, and it’s the least likely one. When Playing for Keeps
actually settles down into a more intimate drama about two exes who
still have feelings for each other, it works. This is the first time in a
long while that either Butler or Biel has seemed convincing in an
emotional role. Both are physical performers who move well, and the
director’s fluid style gives them space; Muccino has always been
particularly attentive to his actors. He doesn’t even overload these
scenes with swelling strings — which, frankly, must be hard for the guy
who made Seven Pounds. Unfortunately, all this serves to
highlight the shoddiness of the rest of the film: You keep expecting
some random actress to suddenly jump in from screen left and start
balling the actor. Which is not a bad metaphor for the film in general: Playing for Keeps wants to be taken seriously, but it can’t stop humping its own leg.
— Bilge Ebiri